Monday, October 25, 2010

With Windows Phone 7, Microsoft has created the first really fresh and successful approach to a mobile platform since the iPhone. They’re competing with iOS and Android the same way Apple chose to compete with Blackberry, PalmOS and Windows Mobile in January of 2007: by not competing at all. They didn’t build a knockoff: they built something new.

The next 18 months are going to be some of the most exciting months for all phone owners looking to upgrade. It remains to be seen what Microsoft comes up with for its fledgling platform, but from what I have heard, there is reason to be optimistic. If Microsoft can avoid its tendency to mire its successful products in a quagmire created by egos, politicking and internecine rivalries, I believe this platform is a genuine threat to iOS and Android. Microsoft, I am rooting for you, if only so that MSFT goes past 30 again.